Essex Solar Heating and Air

The Blog

Solar Power Does More Than Save You Money

There is good news for those considering a switch to solar energy for their homes. In just one year, solar prices dropped 29 percent. In 2016, solar sources represented 39 percent of all new electric capacity that was added to the United States grid. This was 10 percent more than new natural gas sources. As the prices involved with the purchase and installation of solar panels are driven steadily downward it comes as no surprise that they save homeowners money. However, most homeowners are not aware that producing solar energy for their homes has more benefits than just cost savings.

Make Money

Most homeowners install solar panels in order to provide their home with enough power to avoid using local utilities. Incidentally, solar panels have the capability of producing more energy than is actually needed to power the home to which they are connected. For example, locations with abundant sunshine often experience what is called grid parity through the production of solar power.

When this happens, homeowners and businesses have the opportunity to connect their solar producing hardware to local utility companies. For each megawatt of solar-generated power their system produces, homeowners receive one solar renewable energy credit (SREC). These credits can then be sold to utility providers and actually reap a profit. At that point, the solar panels and associated hardware are paying for themselves.

Protect the Environment

Fossil fuel supplies are rapidly disappearing and can not be renewed. Luckily, a rapid rise in the world’s solar energy production means the citizens of Earth will not be left in the dark anytime soon. In 2014, the International Energy Agency projected that by 2050, solar photovoltaics would be the world’s largest source of electricity and this will only protect us from running out of energy sources.

As a matter of fact, the amount of sunlight hitting the United States in a single day is more than 2,500 times the entire country’s daily energy consumption. This is more than enough power to free Americans from dependency on the ever-decreasing stores of natural gasses. As a result, air pollution and greenhouse gasses can also be decreased because there is nothing being burned off and released into the earth’s atmosphere.

Of course, purchasing and installing a solar power operation will initially cost money, but these costs can be offset by the obvious savings on utility bills. Furthermore, the collection of SRECs can garner a profit while the use solar energy saves the planet and all of its inhabitants for generations to come.